1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cold air supply apparatus of a refrigerator, and in particular to a cold air supply apparatus of a refrigerator capable of distributing cold air selectively to the rear and the side surfaces of a chilling chamber.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In general, a refrigerator is partitioned into a freezing chamber for storing frozen food and a chilling chamber for storing cold food, and it has a refrigerating cycle for supplying cold air into the freezing chamber and the chilling chamber.
FIG. 1 is a perspective-sectional view illustrating the conventional refrigerator, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view illustrating a chilling chamber of the conventional refrigerator.
The conventional refrigerator consists of a main body 104 on which a pair of doors 102 open/closed in two ways installed on the front; a freezing chamber 106 placed on the left of the main body 104 and storing frozen food; a chilling chamber 108 partitioned from the freezing chamber 106 by a separation wall 110, placed on the right side of the main body 104; and a cold air supply apparatus supplied air cooled while passing the refrigerating cycle (not shown) to the freezing chamber 106 and the cooling chamber 108.
The cold air supply apparatus includes a blower 120 installed at the upper rear surface of the freezing chamber 106 and forcibly ventilating air cooled while passing the refrigerating cycle; a panel 128 installed at the front portion of the blower 120 and having plural cold air discharge holes 130 for discharging cold air inside the freezing chamber 106; a cold air supply path 132 formed at the upper portion of the separation wall 110 in order to make the cold air ventilated from the blower 120 flow into the chilling chamber 108; a cold air discharge duct 134 installed at the upper portion of the chilling chamber 108 and discharging the air supplied from the cold air supply path 132 into the chilling chamber 108; and a cold air inflow path 138 formed at the lower portion of the separation wall 110 and making the cold air finishing the cooling operation while circulating the chilling chamber 108 flow into the refrigerating cycle.
A damper 150 for opening/closing the cold air supply path 132 is installed on the cold air supply path 132 in order to pass/cut off cold air to the chilling chamber 108, and a temperature sensor 152 for sensing a temperature inside the chilling chamber 108 is installed inside the chilling chamber 108.
In the conventional refrigerator, when the refrigerating cycle is operated and the blower 120 is rotated, cold air cooled while passing the refrigerating cycle is respectively discharged into cold air discharge holes 130 of a panel 128 and the cold air supply path 132 by the ventilation pressure of the blower 120.
The cold air discharged through the cold air discharge holes 130 performs the cooling operation of frozen food stored in the freezing chamber 106 while circulating inside the freezing chamber 106.
And, the cold air supplied to the cold air supply path 132 flows into the cold air discharge duct 134 and is discharged into the chilling chamber 108 through cold air discharge holes 136 formed on the cold air discharge duct 134. The cold air discharged into the chilling chamber 108 performs the cooling operation of cold food stored in the chilling chamber 108 while circulating inside the chilling chamber 108, and the cold air finishing the cooling operation flows into the cold air inflow path 138 formed at the lower portion of the separation wall 110 and is cooled again while passing the refrigerating cycle.
Herein, the temperature sensor 152 detects a temperature inside the chilling chamber 108, when a temperature is not greater than a set temperature, the damper 150 is operated so as to close the cold air supply path 132, when a temperature is not less than a set temperature, the damper 150 is operated so as to open the cold air supply path 132 and perform the cold air supply.
However, in the conventional refrigerator, a cold air discharge duct is installed at the upper portion of a chilling chamber, cold air is supplied from the upper portion to the lower portion of the chilling chamber through cold air discharge holes formed on the cold air discharge duct, a temperature variation inside the chilling chamber is big according to a distance from the cold air discharge holes. And, because cold air is discharged only from the cold air discharge duct, when a high temperature load occurs due to foodstuff stored inside the chilling chamber, etc., lots of time is required for equalizing a temperature inside the chilling chamber, and freshness of the foodstuff stored in the chilling chamber may be lowered due to delay in cooling.
In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, plural cold air discharge holes can be formed inside the chilling chamber, and each cold air discharge hole is connected with each other in order to distribute cold air inside the chilling chamber evenly. However, in that case, because a cold par flow path is lengthened according to the increase of the number of cold air discharge holes, a discharge pressure of cold air is lowered, a cold air flow rate is decreased, and accordingly it is disadvantageous in the heat transmission aspect.
In addition, when a blower for providing a ventilation pressure is installed on each cold air discharge hole in order to prevent the cold air flow rate decrease, a structure of a refrigerator is complicated, a production cost is increased, and a power consumption and noise of the refrigerator are increased.
In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a cold air supply apparatus of a refrigerator which is capable of preventing cold air discharge pressure lowering phenomenon and distributing cold air inside a chilling chamber evenly by forming cold air path so as to discharge cold air from the rear and side surfaces of the chilling chamber and distributing cold air to the rear and side surfaces of the chilling chamber selectively by using one damper without adding additional parts.
In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a cold air supply apparatus of a refrigerator in accordance with the present invention includes a blower installed at the upper of a freezing chamber and forcibly ventilating air cooled while passing a refrigerating cycle; a cold air discharge duct installed at the upper portion of a chilling chamber so as to communicate with a cold air supply path formed at the upper portion of a separation wall partitioning the freezing chamber and the chilling chamber and discharging cold air from the upper portion of the chilling chamber; a side cold air path connected with a certain side of the cold air discharge duct, formed at the side wall of the chilling chamber and guiding cold air to the side surface of the chilling chamber; and a damper installed on a certain side of the cold air discharge duct in order to open/close the cold air supply hole, the side cold air path and both the side cold air path and the cold air discharge duct selectively.
The cold air discharge duct is installed on the rear upper portion of the chilling chamber so as to communicate with the cold air supply hole, a cold air discharge hole is respectively formed at the front and lower surfaces of the cold air discharge duct to discharge cold air inside the chilling chamber, and the side cold air path is connected to the bottom portion of the cold air discharge duct.
The damper is rotationally installed on the upper surface of the cold air discharge duct by a hinge shaft, and a damper driving unit for rotating the damper is connected to the hinge shaft.
The damper cuts off cold air supply to the chilling chamber by closing the cold air supply hole when it is placed on a first position according to the operation of the damper driving unit, cold air supply to the side cold air path is open and cold air supply to the cold air discharge duct is cut off when the damper is placed on a second position (II), and cold air supply to both the side cold air path and the cold air discharge duct is open when the damper is placed on a third position (III).
The damper driving unit is constructed as a stepping motor connected to the hinge shaft.
The cold air supply apparatus of the refrigerator further includes a cold air jet unit installed at the end of the side cold air path to jet cold air onto a load occurred region inside the chilling chamber intensively; and a control unit for controlling the cold air jet unit and the damper according to a temperature inside the chilling chamber.
The cold air jet unit includes a housing fixed so as to communicate with the cold air discharge hole formed at the end of the side cold air path; a nozzle rotatively supported by the housing and jetting cold air to a high-temperature load occurred region; a temperature sensor installed on the front of the nozzle, rotating with the nozzle and sensing the high-temperature load occurred region inside the chilling chamber; and a nozzle driving unit for rotating the nozzle.
The control unit separately controls the operation of the nozzle driving unit and the damper driving unit according to a signal applied from the temperature sensor.